It was a shortened trading week due to the timing of the Christmas holiday period this year. The impeachment of Donald J. Trump was pushed to the back burner as Congress left Washington, D.C. for its Christmas break and media outlets began their usual year-end reviews of the markets.

By Jeff Clark, Senior Analyst, GoldSilver and Adviser for Strategic Wealth Preservation. Silver mines aren’t pulling the same amount of metal out of the ground as they used to, which means less and less silver is coming to market. Why is less silver coming out of the ground? There are a number of reasons, but…

In 1260, Kublai Khan created the first unified fiat currency. The jiaochao was made from the inner layer of the bark of the mulberry tree. It’s of interest that the mulberry tree was quite common in Mongolia.

1. It was a historic week as the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach just the third sitting president since the United States of America formed as a republic. 2. The seasonally adjusted number of Americans filing initial claims for state unemployment dropped by 18,000 claims from the previous week’s unrevised level to 234,000…

1. The status of the U.S.-China trade negotiation continues to be in flux and remains the top factor affecting market volatility. The House of Representatives moved forward on their plan to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump for his actions towards Ukraine. 2. In a surprise move, the seasonally adjusted number of Americans filing initial claims…

The U.S.-China trade negotiation continues to be the top factor for market volatility. The impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine also resumed this week, and it appears that the House will proceed with drafting formal articles of impeachment.

I’ve never been much of a gambler. On the rare occasions I’ve played poker, I almost always came out ahead, but I almost never bluffed and, probably more important, I always played with amateurs like myself, never with players who really knew what they were doing.

Despite the shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., and seemingly positive progress in the trade talks between the U.S. and China earlier in the week, uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-China relationship continues to be the primary driver for market volatility.